How many undocumented immigrants were deported during each year of the Obama administration?

1. Year-by-year totals, as reported

Public reporting assembled from Department of Homeland Security data and independent analysts shows the following fiscal-year removals during the Obama administration: FY2011 — 396,906 removals (reported by contemporaneous DHS/press reporting) ^[5]; FY2012 — roughly 409,849 removals, a commonly cited peak in early second term coverage ^[6]; FY2013 — 438,421 removals, which many outlets identified as the single highest annual total under Obama ^[2]; FY2014 — 414,481 removals, a modest decline tied to new administration priorities ^[7]; FY2015 — about 235,413 removals, reflecting a substantial drop after policy changes ^[6]. Several sources summarize the eight-year span as totaling roughly 2,749,706 removals from FY2009–FY2016 ^{[1] [8]}. Reporting provided to this analysis supplied explicit year figures for FY2011–FY2015 and the overall eight‑year total, while specific FY2009, FY2010 and FY2016 single-year figures were not included in the excerpts supplied here ^{[1] [5] [6] [2] [7]}.

2. What these numbers mean — removals versus returns and interior versus border enforcement

Analysts caution that “deportations” is a shorthand that mixes different DHS categories: formal removals recorded by ICE and actions at the border under U.S. Customs and Border Protection produce overlapping tallies and different policy implications ^{[9] [3]}. Migration Policy Institute notes Obama-era enforcement shifted toward interior removals and prioritization schemes (raising interior removals in early years), while other organizations point out that DHS counting rules changed in the 2000s so comparisons across administrations must be made carefully ^{[3] [10]}.

3. Disputes over who was targeted and how numbers were framed

The rise and fall in annual totals under Obama are interpreted variably: critics and immigrant-rights groups argue the administration deported large numbers of people with minor or nonviolent infractions (citing traffic offenses and immigration violations) and relied more on expedited, nonjudicial removals; defenders emphasize prioritization of convicted criminals and border crossers as policy shifts took hold ^{[4] [11] [12]}. Independent reporting and TRAC analyses documented a rise in categories classified as “criminal” that included traffic and immigration offenses, fueling debate about labels and priorities ^[4].

4. Counting limitations and the record this reporting supports

Available sources agree on three firm points documented here: (a) Obama-era removals were historically high in aggregate, totaling roughly 2.75 million over eight fiscal years ^{[1] [8]}; (b) annual removals peaked in the early 2010s — with FY2013 commonly reported as the highest single year ^[2]; and (c) changes in policy and in DHS counting and operational priorities complicate simple “more/less” comparisons with other presidents ^{[3] [10]}. The excerpts provided do not include a complete, source‑by‑source DHS table for each fiscal year; for a definitive year‑by‑year DHS breakdown one must consult the department’s published removal statistics or TRAC’s year tables (the reporting cited here supplies partial year figures and the eight‑year total) ^{[1] [2]}.

5. Bottom line

The best-supported summary from the reporting assembled here: FY2011 ≈ 396,906; FY2012 ≈ 409,849; FY2013 ≈ 438,421; FY2014 ≈ 414,481; FY2015 ≈ 235,413, and an overall total of about 2,749,706 removals across FY2009–FY2016 — with remaining single‑year figures for FY2009, FY2010 and FY2016 not provided in the supplied excerpts and therefore not restated here without direct sourcing ^{[5] [6] [2] [7] [1]}. The numbers are factual as reported by DHS data and contemporary analyses, but their interpretation depends on whether one foregrounds procedural changes, definitions, or enforcement priorities ^{[3] [11] [4]}.